Stakeholders air suicide grievances to interim Veteran Commissioner

The woman tasked with solving the Australian Defence Force’s battle against veteran suicide has visited Townsville for the first time.

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THE WOMAN tasked with solving the Australian Defence Force’s battle against veteran suicide has visited Townsville for the first time.

Dr Bernadette Boss was appointed as interim National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention on October 1, tasked with finding answers to the systemic problem that has claimed more lives than that of defence members killed in action.

Dr Boss hosted roundtable discussions over two days in Townsville with stakeholders, in preparation to conduct an independent review of past Defence and veteran suicides, with technical expertise contributed from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.

Interim National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention Dr Bernadette Boss in Townsville. Picture: Evan Morgan

The first step is the role becoming permanent in order to grant Dr Boss the power, scope and resources to inquire into deaths by suicide, a move that has been delayed after the bill was knocked back in the Senate on Dec 1, with Labor and Senate crossbenchers lashing the proposal as inadequate and pushing for a royal commission.

Legacy Townsville CEO Nicole Hayes said the choice between the two was not something her organisation or members had discussed but, the chance to be part of “productive” conversations was good for all involved.

“This is an opportunity so let’s use it,” Ms Hayes said.

“The key message that the Commissioner quite frankly said was “this is the beginning of the conversation” which was good because it meant that she was very open to what was being said.

“From a Legacy point of view it was good to know that families are such an integral part of the conversation and being considered.”

Justin Huggett and Dan Angus from the 2RAR Association at a roundtable hosted by the Interim National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Preventio in Townsville. Picture: Evan Morgan

Representatives of the 2nd Battalion Royal Australian Regiment Association Justin Huggett and Daniel Angus said a range of topics were covered including transitions, dependants, medical separations and other potential contributing factors.

“I’ve been writing submissions since 2010 on veteran welfare and transitions,” Mr Angus said.

“I drafted a submission in 2013 and they (defence) implemented some really good changes and even DVA stepped up, one of the big things was the immediate loss of income when discharging and the financial stress that causes.”

Mr Huggett said the meeting was a good starting point but more time needed to be allocated in future to allow for more in depth discussion.

“I just hope this is the first visit of many because two hours only just touched the surface,”

“I spoke about the transition process out of the army and how dangerous it can be and sometimes the start of the downward spiral is that process and the loss of self worth, their position and what they’ve been doing in the defence force.

“We spoke about the DVA claims process, a lot of people have issues and I just said I’m bucking against the trend because I think the process is quite simple if you know what you’re doing and the problem is we have a lot of advocates and veterans not knowing what they’re doing and submitting a substandard applications which is clogging up the system.”

A summary from roundtable discussions will be made available on the National Commissioner for Defence and Veteran Suicide Prevention website in the coming weeks.

Originally published as Stakeholders air suicide grievances to interim Veteran Commissioner